Hofmann, Pehlivanovic and Tkach strike again in 8-ball

Patrick Hofmann (GER), Sanjin Pehlivanovic (BIH) and Kristina Tkach (RUS) took the crowns in 8-ball at the Dynamic Billard European Championships Youth in Tirana, Albania.

Hofmann, Tkach and Pehlivanovic (left to right)

Daniel Maciol (POL) started the match with a break and run against his opponent Patrick Hofmann. But that did not impress Hofmann too much. He answered straight away with a break and run himself. Rack three saw Maciol coming off dry which brought Hofmann to the table. The German cleared the table, added another clearance and went ahead 3:1. In rack five, Maciol again could not get any ball on his break shot. That „mistake“ resulted in Hofmann snatching another two racks off Maciol, taking a 5:1 lead in the match. Maciol then took a time-out and tried to somehow find his way back into the match. But when he got back he still could not make any ball off his break shot. Hofmann again ran the rack and went on the hill 6:1. His entire body language screamed confidence at that point in time. But rack eight had Hofmann with no ball down on his break. That was probably the last chance for Maciol to try and go for a comeback. But he made a mistake when he pocketed the second-last ball of his group. He touched one of his opponent’s balls and closed the way for his last ball to the pocket. He attempted a one-rail shot but failed. The writing was on the wall. Hofmann cleared one more time and won the match and the title very convincingly with 7:1.

The match between Sanjin Pehlivanovic and Wiktor Zielinski (POL) was an exciting thriller – as always. In straight pool, Zielinski defeated Pehlivanovic in the semi-final and went on to claim the title. In 10-ball, Pehlivanovic won the final over Zielinski 6:5. And today, the score was again 5:5 after ten racks. Pehlivanovic had the break shot in rack eleven and he had a ball down. The pressure was almost unbearable for him but he kept calm. The layout was anything but easy. But Pehlivanovic mastered it in a Champion-like fashion and took the final rack with 6:5.

The final match in the Girls division was once again a one man show. Kristina Tkach could not be stopped at anytime by her teammate Dina Fatikhova (RUS) and demonstrated her power in the match. 5:1 was the clear final result in favor of Tkach who claimed her second title this week.

Top Six Finishers

1. Kristina Tkach (RUS)

2. Dina Fatikhova (RUS)

3. Diana Khodjaeva (BEL)
Pia Blaeser (GER)

5. Jana Peters (GER)
Palina Chernik (BLR)

Medal table after 3 of 5 events:

The Dynamic Billard European Championships Youth will continue tomorrow morning at 09:00 CET with matches in the team competition. At 14:00 local time, event switches back to 9-ball individuals.

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